“Are you flirting with me?” I ask.
He Camdenks into a smile. “If you have to ask, I guess I’m doing a bad job.”
“We just agreed that we can’t do this.”
He shakes his head. “Actually, I told you I would talk to my sister.”
I roll my eyes. “Bens, you know that’s not going to go anywhere.”
“What did you just call me?” he says, leaning forward. His knee is still touching my thigh.
“Um, Bens?”
He looks around at my face. “It sounded so cute coming out of your mouth.”
I blush crimson, and his smile widens.
“That one you didn’t question,” he says, putting his leg against mine again. “Continue. I like hearing how smart you are.”
I turn back to my notebook and stare at what I wrote. I know what happens next in the problem. I know the answer just by looking at it written down. But I can’t concentrate with Benson this close to me. I turn to him.
“Can we––”
He’s smiling again.
“What?” I whisper.
He shrugs. “Can’t concentrate?”
I shake my head.
He replies, “Neither can I. All I can think about is kissing you again.” He looks down at my lips.
My Camdenth catches.
“Don’t worry,” he says. “I’ll always ask.”
Those words settle in my chest, and I finally Camdenthe. He stands up and walks back to his seat across from me.
We don’t talk for the rest of the hour. There are only a couple of times we glance at each other. I don’t get much work done because I’m flustered, still feeling his leg imprint against me.
“Time’s up,” I say, looking up at the clock.
He stands. “I’ll see you tonight?”
“Maybe.”
Chapter 17
Benson
ImakeitdownHawthorne Street with my hands in my hoodie pocket and a smile I can’t wipe off because there’s nobody to hide it from. She pressed her leg back against mine under the table and blushed like hell I flirted with her.
I can’t fucking figure out why her. Why this girl. I have hooked up with girls before. I kissed a few not too long ago. None of those even compare to Lucy Moss. I think about her sayingdo you sleep with all of her friendsin the chair across from me, deadpan, while she was furious. She doesn’t want to be another notch on my bed, and I get it. If I haven’t already fucked this up, Gianna definitely will. That’s how I know we started off on the wrong foot, and I need the direction to change. But I can tell that she has a system for failure. She’s too sharp, too observant, and far too fucking smart.
I walk the far way home, around the entire block just for more time to think. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. I have her damn pencil with the bite marks on it inside my bag like a treasure. I walked to her place just to have more time with her. That shit backfired when my sister caught sight of me. I just want to know more about her. Honestly, I can’t get her out of my head.
I pass the same maple twice on the walk because I have, somewhere between my overthinking, walked this block two times now. I reach the Hawthorne House, and Rowan is at the stove making eggs like the heavens told him that’s exactly what I’m craving. The rest of the house is quiet.
